The present invention relates to vehicle seats that fold flat to a substantially horizontal load supporting position and more particularly to such vehicle seats that move to such a substantially horizontal load supporting position as the seatback member is being forwardly folded over the seat cushion member.
Multi-seat vehicles, such as vans, minivans, sport utility vehicles, and the like the, typically have middle (second row) and rear (third row) vehicles seats that are placed rearwardly of the driver""s and front passenger""s (first row) vehicle seats. The second and third row seats are selectively removable and replaceable through a large rear or side door in order to ready the vehicle for carrying cargo. Removal and replacement of these vehicle seats tends to be somewhat difficult and requires a considerable amount of effort on the part of the user, especially with respect to the middle vehicle seat.
To overcome this problem and so as to maximize cargo carrying capabilities, many second and third row seats, and even some first row passenger seats, are configurable from an upright occupiable position to a substantially horizontal load supporting position, whereat the back surface of the seatback acts as a load supporting surface, by means of forwardly folding the seatback member over the seat cushion member.
A significant problem encountered during the forward folding of a seatback member over the seat cushion member is that of interference between the headrest of the seatback member being forwardly folded with a part of the vehicle""s interior disposed immediately in front of it. For instance, a front passenger seat headrest might hit the dashboard upon forward folding of its seatback and a second row seat, or a third row seat, might hit the rear of the seatback disposed immediately in front of it. Such interference precludes the seatback member from forthwith reaching its fully forwardly folded position, which is unacceptable. Thus, in the prior art, in order to permit the seatback member to reach its fully forwardly folded position upon encountering such interference, it is necessary for the user to manually manipulate the seat cushion of the seat assembly being folded, and possibly various latching mechanisms associated with the assembly on the track slides on which the seat assembly rests, to a longitudinal position whereat the headrest of the seatback member clears the dashboard or seatback immediately in front of it. Such additional manual manipulation is inconvenient, time-consuming, and unnecessary. Additionally, a person may forget to move, or even forego moving, the vehicle seat assembly to a longitudinal position whereat it clears the object in front of it, thus potentially resulting in damage to either the headrest of the seatback being folded or to the object it impacts.
Another problem with vehicle seat assemblies that fold from an upright occupiable position to a substantially horizontal load supporting position whereat the back surface of the seatback acts as a load supporting surface, is that there tends to be a gap between longitudinally adjacent seats. Such gaps tends to permit objects to fall between longitudinally adjacent seats, or to become caught between them during loading. Such gaps are undesirable, and accordingly should be minimized, or even be made nonexistent.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a fold flat vehicle seat that is designed to automatically clear the part of the vehicle""s interior disposed immediately in front of it when the seatback member is forwardly folded from an upright occupiable position to a substantially horizontal load supporting position, without the need for a user to re-adjust the longitudinal position of the seat assembly within the vehicle.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fold flat vehicle seat that moves to a predetermined longitudinal position within the vehicle as the seatback member is being forwardly folded from an upright occupiable position to a substantially horizontal load supporting position.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a fold flat vehicle seat that moves to a predetermined longitudinal position within the vehicle as a result of the seatback member being forwardly folded from an upright occupiable position to a substantially horizontal load supporting position.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a fold flat vehicle seat that moves to a predetermined longitudinal position within the vehicle as the seatback member is being forwardly folded from an upright occupiable position to a substantially horizontal load supporting position, through a single manipulation of a seatback latch.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fold flat vehicle seat that moves to a predetermined longitudinal position within the vehicle as the seatback member is being forwardly folded from an upright occupiable position to a substantially horizontal load supporting position, wherein any significant gap existing between longitudinally adjacent seats is minimized or even nonexistent.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a fold flat vehicle seat that moves to a predetermined longitudinal position as the seatback member is being forwardly folded from an upright occupiable position to a substantially horizontal load supporting position, which vehicle seat is inexpensive to manufacture.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a fold flat vehicle seat that moves to a predetermined longitudinal position as the seatback member is being forwardly folded from an upright occupiable position to a substantially horizontal load supporting position, which vehicle seat is to simple and straightforward in its design and manufacture.
In accordance with the present invention there is disclosed a fold flat vehicle seat comprising a movable track member slidably engaging a fixed track member and having a seat assembly mounted thereon for longitudinal sliding movement of the seat assembly relative to the fixed track member along a longitudinal axis. A track lock means is operatively interconnected between the movable and fixed track members and movable between a locked configuration whereat the movable track member is precluded from moving longitudinally relative to the fixed track member and a released configuration whereat the movable track member is permitted to move longitudinally relative to the fixed track member. The seat assembly includes a seat cushion member mounted on the movable track member and a seatback member mounted on the seat cushion member for forward folding about a seatback pivot axis between a substantially upright occupiable position and a substantially horizontal load supporting position. A seatback member latch means is operatively engaged between the seatback member and the seat cushion member to selectively control the forward folding of the seatback member. A biasing means is included for biasing the seatback member toward the substantially horizontal load supporting position. A link means is provided for causing rearward longitudinal movement of the seatback member relative to the fixed track member to a predetermined longitudinal position as the seatback member is forwardly folded about the seatback pivot axis from the upright occupiable position to the substantially horizontal load supporting position when the track lock means is in the released configuration. The link means is operatively interconnected between the seatback member and the fixed track member.
Other advantages, features and characteristics of the present invention, as well as methods of operation and functions of the related elements of the structure, and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, the latter of which is briefly described hereinbelow.